Chin-Ups vs Pull-Ups What Are the Differences? Which One to Choose?

I’ve had my fair share of trying different workout routines. Some of them included pull ups and other chin ups. I used to follow them religiously without ever asking myself what the differences were.

The main difference between pull-ups and chin-ups is the hand position. Pull-ups use an overhand grip with your palms facing away from you while chin-ups use an underhand grip with your hands facing towards you.

But this simple difference changes the muscles that are activated and might change which one you would choose.

What are the targeted muscles?

The main difference between the chin up and the pull up will be the involvement of the bicep.

The chin up with a supinated grip puts your biceps at a mechanical advantage, the movement resembles a bicep curl except that instead of pulling your hand towards you, you pull your body up to your hands.

The pull up, on the other hand, puts your bicep at a mechanical disadvantage, that’s why it will put a greater emphasis on you back.

If your workout session already contains a lot of exercises involving the biceps, you might be better off sticking to pull ups.

The best alternative might be to switch weekly between chin ups and pull ups.

Fox example:

Week A: 5 sets of 8 pull ups

Week B: 5 sets of 8 chin ups

Here’s a flowchart I made to help you choose which one is best suited for you.

To get the total reps of exercises involving the biceps, just add up all the reps of exercises involving the biceps:

For example, if you do 3 sets of 8 bicep curls and 3 sets of 8 cable curls, your total reps are 8*3 + 8*3 = 48

How to achieve your first pull up / chin up?

For some people doing a pull will come easily while for other it might be a challenge.

If you can’t do a single pull up, you may just need to strengthen the muscles from your arms and your back. This can be achieved by starting on easier pull-up variations and slowly increasing the difficulty until you can do a standard pull up.

Here’s a small program divided by levels. That way you can start on the level you feel comfortable and progress at your own speed.

You follow this program on his own if your only goal is to be able to do pull ups, or add it to your workout routine.

If you decide to add it to your workout routine, try to add it at the beginning, after your warm-up. That way you will have all your energy and progress quicker.

Level 1: Inverted Rows

How to do an inverted row

Position the bar at the desired height. The lower the bar is, the harder the exercise will be

Position yourself under the bar

Grip the bar with an overhand grip, with your palms facing away from you

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